TYPE O NEGATIVE

Gothic Metal • United States

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Type O Negative was a gothic/doom metal band formed in Brooklyn, New York, US in 1990. They are well known for their dry, morbid and ironic sense of humor and their often slow and brooding music. "The Drab Four" (the nickname Type O Negative gave themselves) have always succeeded in keeping their own unique style, mixing hardcore rock 'n' roll with slow, doom-like vibes, and guitar-laden soundscapes. Lead singer Pete Steele has described their music as "bad songs written on a Tuesday night."

The two main influences on the band are The Beatles and Black Sabbath, and keyboardist Josh Silver has admitted to a love of Pink Floyd--evidence of which can be heard in the atmospherics of his production techniques.

The band arose from the ashes of the band Carnivore and gained popularity with their songs "Black No. 1" and "Christian Woman" from the Bloody Kisses album. The album wasread more...

TYPE O NEGATIVE Reviews

"Life Is Killing Me" is the 5th full-length studio album by US, New York based doom/goth metal act Type O Negative. The album was released through Roadrunner Records in June 2003. It was their last album released through Roadrunner Records as their long running relationship came to an end. Their next album "Dead Again (2007)" was released through SPV/Steamhammer Records.

While the music on "Life Is Killing Me" is unmistakably the sound of Type O Negative it´s still quite a different sounding release to it´s predecessor "World Coming Down (1999)". "World Coming Down (1999)" is probably the most bleak and heavy album in Type O Negative´s discography, and while "Life Is Killing Me" certainly isn´t a happy album, the trademark sarcastic humour from the early releases is more present on "Life Is Killing Me" than it has been on the last couple of releases. I also sense a tiny light at the end of the tunnel on some tracks.

The most notable difference though is the return of more hardcore sounding tracks. "I Don't Wanna Be Me", "I Like Goils", and especially "Angry Inch" are all, at least to some degree, in hardcore territory. "I Like Goils" actually created quite a stir, with lead vocalist Peter Steele being accused of homophobia. While it´s easy to interpret the lyrics like that, and there certainly is a very strong homophobic element to be found there (I guess lyric lines like "To make it clear that you can't bone me, My tattooed ass reads exit only" and "Now I don't know whose ass you've licked, No shit-tongued boy will ever taste my dick" really can´t be misunderstood), the story behind the track is actually a bit entertaining. Apparently Peter Steele´s decision to pose nude for the August 1995 edition of Playgirl Magazine backfired, as he began to receive more and more sexual offers from men, and rumour has it that some of them were very persistent. So to set the record straight, Peter Steele came up with the lyrics for "I Like Goils".

The music on "Life Is Killing Me" is not only aggressive hardcore though, and we´re predominantly treated to the doomy/gothic Black Sabbath influenced metal with psychadelic Beatlesque leanings, that Type O Negative are mostly known and loved for. Very well constructed vocal melodies (sung with a burning passion by Peter Steele) and choirs, heavy distorted bass and guitars, and atmospheric keyboards. It´s not all material on the album that are equally interesting and "Life Is Killing Me" is to my ears the first Type O Negative to feature filler material. Nothing is of bad quality or anything like that, but there are a couple of unremarkable tracks on the album, that I still to this day, can´t remember how sound, when I pick up the album for a listening session. On any of their previous releases I know exactly how each track sound just by reading the songtitle. At 74:32 minutes the album is also a bit too long for it´s own good, when not all material are equally entertaining. On the other hand there are also very strong tracks on the album like the above mentioned hardcore tinged tracks, "Nettie" (beautiful track that one), "Life Is Killing Me", and the quite odd and different sounding "How Could She?".

Upon conclusion "Life Is Killing Me" isn´t an album that developed the band´s sound much. It´s as if at this point, their unique sound was fully established and they had little desire to explore new ground ("How Could She?" is probably the only track on the album that surprised me), and it more or less sounds like they just picked what they felt were the best elements from their previous releases and combined them here. When you´ve developed a sound as unique as the sound of Type O Negative, it´s not "do or die" though and "Life Is Killing Me" is still a high quality release deserving a 4 star (80%) rating.

Behind all the machismo and muscle headed bravado, there lay a sensitive, acutely aware soul in Pete Steele. Don't laugh. Just listen to this.

Have you ever thought about death? Are you scared to die? Why do people you love die? Why don't people talk about it? All are considered here.

Type O has produced one of the darkest atmospheres ever created on record. This is not dark in the Spartan black metal sense. This is blacker, thicker darkness. It is something like sinking in a bottomless pool, the light gradually fading, and you are utterly helpless to save yourself. The darkness becomes all enveloping, and the instinct to save yourself is replaced by an anaesthetising, almost mildly euphoric dream like state. It is like being buried in a black velvet lined coffin, letting the blackness surround you, keep you warm, keep you safe.

Type O tried a more commercial sound with ‘October Rust’, and it didn't work. Apparently the record buying public who claim to be into dark, "Gothic" music prefer androgynous puppets and pyromaniacal Germans with scary dildos. Their loss. Darker than Manson, more dangerous than Rammstein, more introspective than Manic Street Preachers, more coherent than The Cure, it seems Type O were simply too damn depressing for the self–proclaimed depressed.

This is just so gloriously depressing it's… inspiring. Songs like "Everything Dies", "Everyone I Love Is Dead", and "World Coming Down" are played with so much feeling they have a greater impact than any death metal band blasting away for an entire album. The dirge like feel of these songs is built on with subtleties, like Gregorian chants, heavenly choirs, acoustic interludes, and excellent song dynamics. Pete Steele's incredible distinct bass sound rumbles beneath the dark beauty created above by the rest of the band. This is also his most accomplished vocal performance, ranging from a vampiric sensuality to a dejected moan.

There is none of the silliness of tracks like "My Girlfriend's Girlfriend" or the hate of "I Know You're Fucking Someone Else". The only cheerful point of the entire album is a sinister rumble through a medley of Beatles tracks tacked on the end. Like other Type O Negative covers, it probably sits better on its own than as part of an album.

This is essential listening for anyone interested in dynamics or atmosphere. Just put the razorblades well out of reach before you start.

There is some debate over how "live" this album actually is. Some claim it was recorded in the studio. The liner notes say it was recorded October 31st 1991 at Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. However it was recorded, Pete Steele and the rest of Type O Negative were having a bad day, and couldn't be happier.

Early in their career, the band were largely misunderstood, alienating the undeserved right wing following Steele's previous band Carnivore had picked up. They simply weren't hardcore enough for the skinheads. At the same time, the gothic crowd who later championed the band, were scared off by the double kick drum flourishes, and thrash outs in many of the songs, but at the same time were drawn in by the melancholic, introspective lyrics, the theatrical vocals, and the doom laden keyboards and dirge–like arrangements.

Right from the start, the band are taunted with chants of "You suck, you suck!" but continue to play anyway. The jeers continue through the first song, originally titled "Unsuccessfully Coping With The Natural Beauty Of Infidelity", but more popularly known as "I Know You're Fucking Someone Else". And the song winds its way through pipe organ gothicism, acoustic sections, hardcore sing–a–longs, a Scottish accent, and thrash metal kick outs. It sounds a mess, but is an incredibly listenable epic.

The between song abuse between Steele and the audience is a treat, as are the moments when it all goes wrong. Third track "Gravity" breaks down completely, and in something reminiscent of Bad News or Spinal Tap, the band has to stop for an apparent bomb threat. "I guess this ain't your lucky day, huh? Let's just get this over with," mutters Steele as the band returns to the stage and blasts through a raucous version of "Pain". It may seem silly re-creating such an incident in the studio, but it is rumoured to be based on a real occurrence.

There's a silly but fun take on "Hey Joe", with Steele's mournful moan and the trademark lumbering juggernaut guitar and bass sound adding some seriously sinister overtones Jimi Hendrix would never have dreamed of.

The show ends with a rollicking romp through a reprise of "Kill You Tonight", a cheerful ode to murdering an unfaithful lover, complete with cheesy new romantic "whoa whoa" backing vocals, and a silly accent, sounding like a cross between Crocodile Dundee and EastEnders. There's an ill–advised cover of Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" tacked on the end. It doesn't fit Type O Negative's style, so the less said the better.

This whole album is surprisingly good fun from a band who are meant to be miserable bastards. It also benefits from losing the infamous original artwork — a close–up picture of an asshole stretched so far as to make your eyes water!

"Slow, Deep and Hard" is the debut full-length studio album by US doom/hardcore/goth metal act Type O Negative. The album was released through Roadrunner Records in June 1991. After crossover thrash metal act Carnivore disbanded in 1987, lead vocalist/bassist Peter Steele teamed up with keyboard player/producer Josh Silver, guitarist Kenny Hickey, and drummer Sal Abruscato to form Type O Negative. Type O Negative was formed in 1989 under the New Minority monicker, then changed their name to Repulsion, then to Sub Zero, and finally to Type O Negative.

Type O Negative is mostly known for their doomy, goth oriented, and melancholic sounding music, but the material on "Slow, Deep and Hard" is quite different from the material on their later releases. The black sarcasm which is also a trademark of the band´s sound was there from the get go though. "Slow, Deep and Hard" is in fact drenched in it.

Stylistically the music on "Slow, Deep and Hard" is a combination of crushingly heavy doom metal riffs, feedback noises, industrial effects and repetition, atmospheric keyboards, hardcore punk sections, and a slight nod towards goth rock. The vocals by Peter Steele are raw and delivered with fierce conviction and caustic aggression. It´s very seldom he sings using his low register clean voice, which is otherwise a trademark on later releases by the band. There are also loads of riot gang vocals and other types of backing/harmony vocals on the album.

The lyrics are also worth a mention as they are dealing with themes like cheating women, extreme hatred, retribution/revenge, suicide, depression, and immigrants, which are all serious topics, but put through the sarcastic (and often quite humourous) Type O Negative machine, the listener is left either laughing, repulsed, or something else entirely. It´s the kind of lyrics that´ll probably leave most listeners with a feeling of unease and insecurity on whether or not the band really means what they are saying. The diatribe against immigrants in "Der Untermensch", which earned Type O Negative a ban in Germany, is lyricwise probably the most controversial track on the album, but the violent description of putting a pickaxe through the faces of the protagonist´s cheating girlfriend and her lover in "Xero Tolerance", or the jackhammer rape in "Prelude to Agony", are probably also going to raise a few brows.

The 7 track, 58:38 minutes long album is thematically a concept release if you ignore/exclude "Der Untermensch", which has little to do with the other tracks when it comes to lyrical content. The overall story is that the protagonist (which is allegedly build on Peter Steele and his experiences and emotions) suspects that his girlfriend is cheating on him and the subsequent depression and agony he is going through as a consequence of that as described in the opening track "Unsuccessfully Coping With the Natural Beauty of Infidelity". He then finds out for sure in "Xero Tolerance", where he follows his girlfriend and experiences her having sex with another man. Hence his fantasies of killing her begins, and they are continued in "Prelude to Agony", which is a track that combines despair over love and extreme torture scenes. The industrial noises of "Glass Walls of Limbo (dance mix)" probably symbolises a full scale breakdown of the protagonist and then there´s one minute of silence in "The Misinterpretation of Silence and Its Disastrous Consequences" before the protagonist contemplates suicide in the closing track "Gravitational Constant: G = 6.67 x 10?8 cm?³ gm?¹ sec?²".

The tracks are generally very long (two of them exceeding 10 minutes in length) and they are not vers/chorus build. At least not in a traditional sense although there are clear memorable chorus parts. The almost blatant disregard for conventional song structures works really well for the band though, and I dare say that most tracks feature semi-progressive structures with many surprising twists and turns.

The sound production is also rather unconventional with the distorted bass being pretty dominant, while the guitar often functions more as backing to the bass than the other way round. Both feature a rather distinct buzzing sound. The sound is quite cold and fits well with the atmosphere of the music and the lyrical themes. So all in all "Slow, Deep and Hard" is a very interesting debut release by Type O Negative. It´s unique sounding both in terms of the metal scene in general and in terms of the band´s own discography. Although it´s obviously a very immature release in some ways (as an example some of the transitions between sections aren´t exactly composed in the most sophisticated way), it´s still a high quality release and with the added original sound and style a 4.5 star (90%) rating is fully deserved.

TYPE O NEGATIVE was a strange band indeed. After releasing only one album they did something very bizarre and released their second album which was basically a faux live performance where they recorded it in the studio but presented it as if it were in front of an audience like perhaps in Brighton Beach! They went so far as to add crowd noises and interact with fake audience members and even stop the venue because of a bomb threat. This is all the doings of Peter Steele the crazed vocalist, bassist and lyricist who had a knack for rubbing everyone the wrong way and he succeeds again with THE ORIGIN OF FECES, which admittedly is a clever play of words on Charles Darwin’s “Origin Of Species” and to top it off the original album cover donned Steele’s anal sphincter. Luckily i picked up the remastered version that has the much better green skeletons dancing, in fact it is a painting by Michael Wolgemut called “The Dance Of Death” from 1493.

Many of the tracks were on their debut album “Slow, Deep And Hard” but here have been deliberately renamed, i guess to fuck with out minds or something.

Ugh. What can i say about this one? I can’t say i really like it. All the smoothness of the band’s studio albums is missing here and this does indeed sound like a live recording and that’s part of the problem right there for me. I tend not to like live recordings unless they are absolutely spectacular and this i’m afraid is not. It sounds more like a punk band most of the time and the gothic touches are not as strong as i would like. I really don’t find the material here extremely interesting either. The songs are fairly generic and Peter Steele comes off as a drunken buffoon who lives in his own universe. I have to admit that the whole is a laugh the first time around but i don’t find this one to have much staying power. On the newer copy there is an excellent gothic doom version of “Paranoid” by Sabbath and it only rubs it in how un